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Ten Little Babies
Decreasing numbers of babies--from ten to one--engage in activities ranging from dining to napping to growing up, in a rhyming counting book.
24 pages, Board Book
First published August 5, 1989
About the author
Gyo Fujikawa
115 books98 followersGyo Fujikawa was an American illustrator and children's book author. A prolific creator of more than 50 books for children, her work is regularly in reprint and has been translated into 17 languages and published in 22 countries. Her most popular books, Babies and Baby Animals, have sold over 1.7 million copies in the U.S. Fujikawa is recognized for being the earliest mainstream illustrator of picture books to include children of many races in her work, before it was politically correct to do so.
-Wikipedia
-Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
October 29, 2017
Oh we read this over and over when my sons were very small. Just darling. I'll have to see what I can find by the artist now.
November 8, 2018
2016: There are not many books that a 19-month-old baby will absorb himself in for half an hour straight. But this is one of them. It gets all the stars. And I will have to buy a copy, because the library wants theirs back.
2017: Still a favorite more than a year later. I can now read this book without looking at the words, and what's even better, I still don't mind reading it.
2018: Read it to a bunch of four-year-olds in our preschool group. They said the numbers for me. They adored it, especially the page with the naughty babies.
2017: Still a favorite more than a year later. I can now read this book without looking at the words, and what's even better, I still don't mind reading it.
2018: Read it to a bunch of four-year-olds in our preschool group. They said the numbers for me. They adored it, especially the page with the naughty babies.
October 14, 2020
A darling book our daughters love. We have it memorized and sing the words to the tune of “hush little baby”. It’s been two years and it is still front and center in our house. We love this book so much. The drawings are adorable and have inspired me to look more into the author’s work.
February 13, 2018
My 4 year old had to count the babies on every page and had fun finding the one baby talked about in each little poem.
June 25, 2021
I love this book it was funny because it’s a children’s book and yet the babies are just disappearing. It was honestly sad when my mother threw the book away, but now I’m glad I found it.
October 6, 2021
Funny and cute!
February 26, 2023
A favorite for my babies and me.
September 12, 2023
Babies doing their thing!!
August 25, 2024
I'm going to try this at the babies in the libraries program I'm running in the fall. Gyo Fujikawa, don't let me down now!
December 27, 2016
This review also appears on my blog, Read-at-Home Mom.
A group of babies dwindles from ten to one as they engage in daily activities and lose members to such things as play time, tummy aches, and seasickness.
Gyo Fujikawa’s babies are diverse, mischievous, playful, and full of life. The text is a simple rhyme, but the story is really in the illustrations, where little faces convey everything from delight to outright anger. The babies are both childlike and comically adult, adopting mature stances and facial expressions even as they drink from bottles and dig in the sand. The babies are easy to count on each page, always appearing in formations with plenty of space between one baby and the next. The baby who leaves the group at the end of each verse is also easily identifiable on each spread, and little ones will have fun picking him out each time.
This is a larger board book, and each illustration fills a two-page spread so as board books go, it’s one of the more story time-friendly options. It suits a number of popular themes for babies and toddlers including babies, counting, and even family. I’ve never done a story time just about the number ten, but that would be another neat way to use this book. The text also lends itself well to a flannel board, though it would be such a shame to hear the words without the wonderful illustrations to accompany them.
This book is similar to Karen Katz’s Ten Tiny Babies, and to many of the baby board books by Helen Oxenbury in which groups of babies participate in various activities. Mem Fox’s Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes is another perfect readalike. People looking for old-fashioned kids’ books with a classic feel will be thrilled with this one, which feels both timeless and contemporary, despite being published in 1989.
A group of babies dwindles from ten to one as they engage in daily activities and lose members to such things as play time, tummy aches, and seasickness.
Gyo Fujikawa’s babies are diverse, mischievous, playful, and full of life. The text is a simple rhyme, but the story is really in the illustrations, where little faces convey everything from delight to outright anger. The babies are both childlike and comically adult, adopting mature stances and facial expressions even as they drink from bottles and dig in the sand. The babies are easy to count on each page, always appearing in formations with plenty of space between one baby and the next. The baby who leaves the group at the end of each verse is also easily identifiable on each spread, and little ones will have fun picking him out each time.
This is a larger board book, and each illustration fills a two-page spread so as board books go, it’s one of the more story time-friendly options. It suits a number of popular themes for babies and toddlers including babies, counting, and even family. I’ve never done a story time just about the number ten, but that would be another neat way to use this book. The text also lends itself well to a flannel board, though it would be such a shame to hear the words without the wonderful illustrations to accompany them.
This book is similar to Karen Katz’s Ten Tiny Babies, and to many of the baby board books by Helen Oxenbury in which groups of babies participate in various activities. Mem Fox’s Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes is another perfect readalike. People looking for old-fashioned kids’ books with a classic feel will be thrilled with this one, which feels both timeless and contemporary, despite being published in 1989.
April 20, 2017
Read probably 100+ times in my household! Sometimes read 3 or more time sin a single day. And yet, it is still tolerable for both myself and my wife, and my daughter adores pointing out all the objects she knows in this on-the-surface simple Count Down from 10 book. Gyo Fujikawa's illustrations of a fabulous rainbow of toddlers doing toddlerish things and the sweet bouncy rhymes make it a top 10 book on our (big) bookshelf of children's literature.
June 1, 2010
At one year old, Moira usually sits still while we read this one, and has even started pointing at the baby who is not doing the thing all the other babies are doing.
Over a year later, this is still a favorite. I change the gender pronoun on the last page to "she" and Moira is always very happy to point to herself and say "grown up!"
Over a year later, this is still a favorite. I change the gender pronoun on the last page to "she" and Moira is always very happy to point to herself and say "grown up!"
January 6, 2012
I can't get enough of Fujikawa's books; her illustrations are charming and detailed and remind me of my own baby. The prose is always simple, because you really get this author's books for the pictures.
February 22, 2015
I enjoyed reading this story to my daughter couple times. The size of this book is unique, tall and big. I like how it teaches kids how to count from a young age, and I like how the illustrations include different ethnicities.
October 12, 2024
This tall and skinny board book has been such a random treasure find. It has got to be my toddler (2) Mermaid Warrior's favorite. This book is often a choice she takes in the car. We read it for math today.
February 1, 2011
read it and reading it, and reading some more.
Love Fujikawa's illustrations!
Love Fujikawa's illustrations!
July 16, 2016
I find this book to be slightly (inadvertently) morbid, but my two-year-old loves it.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews